Asian Stir Fry

[Fred]

Still fooling around with Asian cuisine. This evening I experimented a little and got very nice results. What you see is a sweet and sour chicken stir fry with snap peas and mango. I wanted to use duck but the super market didn't have any. It was served with gyoza (Japanese pot stickers) and white rice. It was excellent - better than I thought it would be. I'm having some good fun and some great meals as I explore more Asian cooking.

http://www.foodieforums.com/otherimages/chickenstirfry.jpg

[xdrewsiferx]

that there sir looks wonderful!

[Fred]

Thanks, Drew. One of my favorite cooking activities is experimentation and recipe development. Some experiments work and some don't. I got excited that this one worked because I'm really a beginner at Asian cooking and haven't really progressed much past the stage of following others' recipes. But, like everything, experience and practice will bring it all home.

[xdrewsiferx]

What do you use for your stir fry sauce? I love making Stir Fry myself but I dont know really what is the best for that.

[Fred]

There are lots of sauces for various purposes. This one was a sweet and sour sauce and had:

soy sauce
mirin
rice vinegar
brown sugar
hot thai pepper
corn starch
water
Chinese 5 spice
ginger


One I use quite often is very simple

water
corn starch
hoisin
ginger
soy sauce
rice vinegar
sesame oil
garlic

For Japanese dishes, many sauces are based on shoyu (soy sauce) and mirin. You can then add whatever you like to round it out - ginger, veggies, miso, sake, vinegar, sesame, sugar, whatever.

I can't tell you the measurements because I don't actually measure them. I just put in what seems right, taste and adjust. Not very scientific. I've made the second one so many times, it comes out the same every time. Get yourself a good Asian cookbook. It should have plenty of stir fry sauces in it. You can then fool with them to get what you like.

Maybe somebody with more experience at Asian cuisine can drop in and give you better advice than I can.

[Octaveman]

I gotta take a pic of my General Tso's Chicken. It's my best and favorite dish I make and it looks really really good. Everything looks very tasty. Usually Sweet and Sour has some pinapple juice in it right? did you use mango juice with your mango's? Since I love mango's I'm curious to hear what it did to the flavor.

[Fred]

No, my sweet and sour sauce had just what it says in the post above. No pineapple. I used a fresh sliced mango, no juice. That and the small amount of sugar in the sauce made the sweet part of the flavor. The sour came from the vinegar and it even had some heat with the hot pepper. This was nothing like a sweet and sour you would find in a cheap Chinese carry out nor did it taste like it - fortunately. No msg. This was a fairly sophisticated dish. Very nice.

[Grouch]

I used a fresh sliced mango, no juice. That and the small amount of sugar in the sauce made the sweet part of the flavor. and the mirin:)